In Desperation (PAFP, Semi-Advanced)

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    Apphia glanced down. The boy- er- man seemed as if he wanted to rest instead of talk more. She could understand that, she guessed. It wouldn't hurt for her to get a little sleep, either. Guilt still clouded her mind, because she hadn't meant to get him all worked up before. It didn't matter now, though, and she looked back at him, head tilted.
    "I can tell you've been through a lot today. I'm going to leave you alone." Well, as alone as he could get while in the same one-roomed cabin as Apphia.
    Apphia, herself, was not tired at all. She was used to being out this late, still having been at or near the lake at that time. She much preferred the outdoors to her cramped home. The girl decided that she might be able to stay up reading some more, if Alistair was going to pass out. He probably needed to recover from what had happened to him anyway. Whatever he'd been given by his brother was still probably affecting him, if only minutely.

    He'd thought that she wanted to talk more, that she had suggested they move to a lighter subject, but he wasn't about to bring that up, wasn't going to contradict her. Not here. Not now. And although he was feeling a little more safe in her company, he didn't quite dare to leave the chair yet. It would be warmer and more comfortable to curl up by the fire, certainly, but Alistair wasn't quite brave enough yet. The chair was safe, as far as he could tell. So he stayed in the chair, pulling his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs, and resting his head on one arm. It wasn't completely comfortable, but he didn't think he would get hurt like this—at least not easily. Alistair's eyes drifted shut, a quiet sigh escaping his lips.

    If Apphia were alone, she would feel the need to undress before she went to sleep, but she was not going to do that anywhere near her guest. The situation was already unbearably awkward - she didn't need to make it even more so just because she thought she'd be less comfortable in what she was wearing currently. It wasn't really that uncomfortable anyway, and the black-haired girl could sacrifice a little bit of comfort if it meant not embarrassing herself in the worst way possible.
    Plus, she'd already decided that she would not go to sleep until long after Alistair drifted off (if he did). Maybe she could do it later? It still felt wrong and.. really strange. Not that she was uncomfortable with her body or anything. No, she decided that none of that would be happening as long as Alistair was in her home, which she'd make sure was not for long if she didn't want to smell like a wild animal. Not that she'd kick him out or anything.. just, make him leave and go do something for awhile while she cleaned up. It couldn't be too hard, could it?
    Whatever. Apphia didn't have to think about that right then.
    Judging by Alistair's silence, he wasn't objecting to her leaving him alone for the moment. She was grateful as well for that, because conversations were, quite frankly, difficult to keep up. Especially since there were many topics that she had to avoid.
    She settled with making herself a little more comfortable by the fire and directing her gaze anywhere but the man.

    Alistair had planned to stay awake for a little while, to try and discern whether she would try to hurt him if she thought he was asleep. However, it only took a few minutes before he really did fall asleep, his mind drifting away into the lands of his imagination. He uncurled a bit as he slept, his arms loosening and his feet slipping down off the chair. He seemed quite normal like this, if one ignored his clothing—just another young man, exhausted by a long day. Certainly, his features were fine, and his skin was pale, and his hands were not roughened by hard labor. Yet, given a few years of work, he could easily have been anyone else, anyone other than a prince—albeit a terrified prince away from his family and in fear of his life.

    It was awhile of Apphia sitting alone by the fire before she realized that Alistair had actually managed to fall asleep, despite his wariness of her. It was then that she realized that she was also tired, despite the fact that she really wanted to read. Apphia didn't guess it could hurt, though. So she stood, made sure that the fire had enough wood in it to keep it going for a good while and headed off to bed - er - cot, or whatever she had. Not long after, she too was sleeping soundly, worn out from that evening's events.

    At some point during the night, Alistair fell off the chair in the midst of his dreaming, hitting the ground with a muffled sort of thump. Despite this, though, he stayed fast asleep, just curling up a little more. He stayed asleep on the floor until early morning, when he woke and looked around, blinking sleepily. It took him a moment to recognize his surroundings, and another few to determine how he had ended up on the floor. Once his confusion has been cleared up, though, he sat near the fire and stared into the flames, waiting for Apphia to wake.

    Apphia did not like mornings. When she woke up that particular morning, she was not happy at all. Though, she supposed she'd have to be nice, because Apphia had a guest who was deathly afraid of doing anything wrong.
    She sat up, rubbing her eyes and face and yawning. One hand went to comb through her hair and the other went to support her while she glanced around at the room. Sighting Alistair, she tilted her head. "'Morning." She muttered, pushing herself up and frowning.

    He glance back when he heard her voice, taking note of her tone and her frown. So she was not, it seemed, in a good mood. That was alright. He would just have to try and keep from upsetting her, he supposed, until her mood changed. Perhaps that would be possible. "I put a little more wood on the fire, since it looked like it was burning low," he said quietly, returning his gaze to the flickering flames. "I- I hadn't really don't something like that myself before, but I was watching how you did it yesterday, and trying to figure it out based off that, and I- I think I did alright. I was not burned, at least. And the fire is still burning." He had also taken off his boots, which now stood next to the door—he had thought that he might feel a bit more comfortable with bare feet—but he wasn't sure if she had noticed that and didn't think it was something he needed to point out.

    "Good job, I'm surprised you didn't burn anything down." Apphia stated monotonously, staring out the window and finding that the snow was not coming down so hard anymore, though she still couldn't see much out the window. "And we didn't freeze to death, I applaud you." She just sounded sarcastic this time, but she really couldn't help it. Apphia wasn't necessarily angry at Alistair, but the presence of another person just made her frustrated. She'd have to worry about if he was okay as well as herself, and as selfish as that sounded, she honestly didn't care. "How long have you been awake?"

    He flinched. Alistair was not entirely familiar with sarcasm, but from her tone it was simple enough to understand a little of it. The light slowly faded from his eyes, and his gaze fell to the floor. "I- I'm sorry," he murmured, not quite registering her question. "I know you would rather have done it yourself, but I- I woke up a while ago and it looked like you were sleeping soundly and I- I didn't want to disturb you. I'll ask you next time before I do anything that might upset you." The lad seemed genuinely contrite and almost ashamed of his actions, even though only moments before he had been pleased with them and hopeful that they would please Apphia as well.

    "Look, kid," Apphia sighed, leaning against the armrest of the chair. "I'm not mad at you, do whatever you want, without permission or anything. I've just got this affinity for mornings, right?" She continued, voice softening. "Just as long as you don't bother me until I've completely woken up, we'll be fine, okay?" The black-haired girl rubbed at her face again, yawning grouchily. Couldn't she just get a break? Alistair was acting like a puppy who she'd just kicked for no reason. She didn't kick him. She was just grumpy.

    Alistair nodded, moving away from the fire. "Alright," he said softly. "I- I'll just be quiet and stay out of the way, then. I've done that before. You can just forget I'm here for a little while, until you feel like you are awake and perhaps in a better mood." He seemed a bit less hurt, having been given her explanation, but he said nothing more. He simply sat in a corner of the cabin, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes, focusing on keeping his breathing steady.

    Apphia sank down into the chair, head in her hands, more out of drowsiness than anything. She was glad for the silence, even if Alistair still seemed kind of put-off. Whatever. It wasn't her responsibility to make him happy all the time. She yawned again and stayed put for awhile, letting herself get accustomed to consciousness. God, how she wished she was still sleeping right then, even though she'd felt that she needed to actually start doing things with her life. After a considerable amount of time, she began to feel a little better, straightening up and leaning back in the chair.

    He stayed quietly in the corner, as he would said he would do, and as he sat there he was able to examine, somewhat, how he felt toward Apphia at the moment. He was grateful to her, certainly—she had saved his life, after all, even if she refused to let him do anything to repay her. At the same time, though, there was a little bit of fear there, if only because he knew that he really was at her mercy and that, thus far, it seemed like she didn't really like him. Whether this was out of principle or because of something he had done, he wasn't sure. More than anything else, though, he felt a great desire to make her happy, to win her approval. Alistair felt this way toward many people, mostly because very few of the people he knew were happy with him. He had never been good enough, not yet, but in his youthful innocence he still hoped that one day something he did would be deemed acceptable by one of the people he sought to please.

    Apphia was not trying to come across as annoying - although she was - so she tried not to talk for a very long time. It had been almost an hour of sitting in the chair with her eyes closed before she felt that she could speak and hold a conversation without sounding like her entire life sucked. "Okay. I'm okay now." She muttered, wiping at her face once again and standing. She hoped she hadn't done anything to anger Alistair, though she doubted that was so. "Sorry for that. I'm really not nice to anyone when I wake up."

    He had stayed in the corner the whole time, his eyes sometimes closed and sometimes open. When she did at last speak to him, seeming to indicate that she was in a better mood, he looked up at her with wide green eyes, offering a small, shy smile. "That- that's alright. You weren't that bad...you didn't even try to bring me to tears just so no one else nearby would be feeling happy. That sort of thing has happened before." He shrugged slightly, hesitating a moment before going on. "I- I really am sorry for what I did, though. And I do mean what I said about asking. I- I don't want to upset you, even accidentally."

    "It didn't upset me. I'm glad you did, actually. I would have been much more irritated had it been cold." Apphia explained, shrugging. "Also, I don't try to make people cry on purpose." She laughed briefly. She was aware of the fact that Alistair was very much a people-pleaser and was trying his best to make her happy whether he knew it or not. "Unless they've done something to deserve it. You have not." Apphia pointed out at the end, just to make sure.

    "I...I have not?" Alistair stood, clasping his hands rather nervously behind his back. "Thank you, then. Is there anything else I may do, though? I- I do wish to help as much as I can, although I know that I am somewhat less than ideal, since I have not learned very much about doing the everyday sort of tasks that keep a place running." He bit his lip for a moment, hoping that this would be acceptable to her and that there would be something he could do to help out.

    "Everything's O.K. for the moment." Apphia assured him, looking around momentarily before sitting back down. She wished she had other things to do - she was used to being outside for long amounts of time, not being cramped up in her house. "Thank you, though." Apphia smiled at him halfheartedly from her seat and brought her legs up into the chair with her, folding them to her side. She leaned her elbow on the armrest, then her rested her chin in her hand.